U.S. Air Force Weighs Plan to Help Avoid Future Satellite Crashes

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PARIS — The U.S. Air Force remains undecided about how much data
it will make available on the whereabouts of satellites and
orbital debris beyond what it publicizes now as it weighs orbital
traffic safety concerns against the national security penchant
for secrecy, the service’s deputy undersecretary for space
programs said April 4.

More than two years after the worst-ever collision of man-made
objects in orbit — when an active Iridium Communications
satellite and a retired Russian Cosmos spacecraft slammed
into each other, spewing thousands of pieces of debris on
popular orbital routes — the Air Force is still grappling with
how much of the data it harvests from ground-based radars should
be made public, Richard W. McKinney said. [ Video:
How the 2009 satellite crash happened ]

Commercial satellite operators and others interested in the
growing problem of space debris have long requested the U.S.
military loosen its grip on what it harvests from its sensors,
which feed into a catalog of orbital objects. A portion of that
catalog, called Two-Line Elements (TLEs), is made public to give
basic information on a satellite’s whereabouts.

Air Force's space crash review

Following the
Iridium-Cosmos collision, the Air Force agreed to review
whether it should be making public a larger share of the data it
collects. McKinney said that process continues.

“We’re looking at that, and we’re looking at M2M relationships,”
McKinney said April 4 at the MilSpace 2011 conference organized
by SMi Group of London, referring to automated,
machine-to-machine communications that would manage data
dissemination. “A policy on how we would share data, and whether
we go beyond TLEs, is part of the review.

“There are some real security issues involved. But having said
that, I can say we don’t want to see another collision in space,
which would create yet more debris that no longer can be
maneuvered.” [ Worst
Space Debris Events of All Time ]

The U.S. Space Surveillance Network is about to undertake a major
upgrade of the Space Fence, a group of Very High Frequency radars
deployed across the United States in a line at about 33 degrees
north latitude.

The upgrade, for which two $107 million design contracts have
been awarded to competing teams led by Raytheon Integrated
Defense Systems and Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors,
will feature higher-frequency, S-band radars able to detect
smaller pieces of orbital junk in low and medium Earth orbit. The
Air Force has estimated that the new Space Fence, which could be
operational by late 2015, will cost $3.5 billion.

International eye on space

In parallel with its review of whether to make more information
available, the U.S. Defense Department is signing bilateral
agreements with nations with a demonstrated interest in
space situational awareness. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert
Gates has signed space-surveillance agreements in the past few
months with Australia, Canada and France.

During the two-day meeting, McKinney sought to portray the U.S.
military as more interested than ever in cooperating with
allies on space programs, in keeping with the new U.S.
National Security Space Strategy, which was made public in
January.

But while the policy — spurred by the U.S. government budget
crisis — may result in additional use of non-U.S. goods and
services, it follows a long history of U.S. military purchases of
foreign components for key space assets.

For years, U.S. missiles and jet fighters derived their guidance
from maps produced from French medium-resolution optical
satellites. More recently, the U.S. government has signaled an
interest in medium-resolution radar imagery collected by
Canadian, German and Italian satellites.

The main engine of the Atlas 5 rocket, one of the two principal
vehicles used to launch military satellites, is built by NPO
Energomash of Russia, with no plans to create a U.S.
manufacturing facility for it.

The other workhorse launch vehicle for U.S. military satellites,
the Delta 4, uses motor nozzles made in France, fuel tanks and
engine valves from Japan, while welding and lathe machines for
rocket parts are imported from Italy and Sweden.

Rocket segments at the Air Force spaceports in Florida and
California are moved aboard the Kamag vehicle, made in Germany.

The U.S. Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) Ka-band telecommunications
constellation features a satellite financed by Australia, and the
Air Force is “looking to expand [WGS] partnerships with
additional countries in the future,” McKinney said. In return for
financing one satellite, Australia’s military gets access to the
full WGS constellation.

The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program includes
contributions from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, which are
to receive AEHF constellation capacity in proportion to their
investment.

The U.S. Global Positioning System of positioning, navigation and
timing satellites, which are financed by the U.S. Defense
Department but used by civil and commercial interests worldwide,
also features cooperation for military navigation warfare
development, McKinney said.

Eleven nations have signed agreements to promote development of
navigation-warfare capabilities in ways that facilitate coalition
military engagements.

This article was provided bySpace News,
dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.